91 



THE PHYSIOLOGY OF FLOWERING PLANTS: THEIR GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT. 1970. 



By H. E. STREET and H. OPIK 



Edward Arnold, London. A series of student texts in contemporary biology. 272 pp., 95 figs., 



15 tabs., combined author and subject index. ISBN 7131 2258 7, $ 11.75, £ 3.50 (cloth), ISBN 



7131 2259 5, $ 5.95, £ 1.75 (paper) 



Contents: 1. Introduction; 2. Germination; 3. Energy economy; 4. Water relations; 5. 

 Mineral nutrition; 6. Transport of metabolites; 7. Resistance to desiccation and frost; 8. 

 Growth: progress and pattern; 9. Cell growth and differentiation; 10. Growth movements; 

 11. Morphogenesis and development 



This introductory text written for beginning students, in spite of what its title seems to 

 suggest, really deals with whole plant physiology rather than with plant development as such. 

 Almost half of the book (chs. 3 to 7) is devoted to fundamental physiological processes judged 

 essential as a background to the discussion of growth and development proper. Only four 

 chapters are allotted to developmental processes. 



We will restrict this review to chapters 8, 9, and 11. The emphasis here, as in the remainder 

 of the book, is strongly physiological, and very little attention is devoted to developmental 

 anatomy. The treatment is selective and condensed, and appears on the whole rather too 

 difficult for beginning students. The attempt of the authors to make every chapter into a self- 

 contained whole entails rather much repetition. Morphogenesis as such is discussed twice, once 

 very briefly in ch. 8 in relation to growth, and again in ch. 11 under a much looser definition, 

 including root, bud, and leaf initiation as well as flowering and embryo development, but 

 excluding regeneration. 



To the present reviewer it seems a definite drawback that the plant hormones are not given 

 a separate chapter. As it is, individual hormones are often mentioned rather haphazardly and 

 before all their various functions have been coherently discussed. On the other hand, the 

 sections in ch. 9 on cell division, cell expansion, and cell differentiation, though concise, are 

 well worth reading. 



All chapters are concluded by useful lists of further readings and selected references to the 

 primary literature. The numerous illustrations have been carefully chosen, but it is surprising 

 that such basic matters as the cellular structure of the shoot apex and of the early embryo 

 are not illustrated. 



92 



THE CONTROL OF GROWTH AND DIFFERENTIATION IN PLANTS. 1970. By P. F. WAREING 



and I. D. J. PHILLIPS 



Pergamon, Oxford. 313 pp., 124 figs., 6 tabs., subject index. SBN 08 015500 6, 40 s., $ 5.50 



(flexic.) SBN 08 015501 4, 50 s., $ 7.00 (hard c.) 



Contents: 1. Growth in the higher plant; 2. Patterns of growth and differentiation; 3. 

 General aspects of differentiation; 4. Plant growth hormones: their discovery and chemistry; 

 5. The role of hormones in shoot and root growth; 6. Other aspects of hormonal control; 

 7. Hormones and growth movements; 8. Sterile culture methods in studies of differentiation; 

 9. The physiology of flowering — I. photoperiodism; 10. The physiology of flowering - II. 

 temperature and other factors; 11. Dormancy; 12. Senescence; 13. The control of develop- 

 ment 



This book is intended as an introduction to growth and differentiation in higher plants for 

 undergraduate students. The authors have attempted to bring together both the morphological 

 and physiological approach within the same volume, and they constantly refer back to 

 developmental and other interrelations in the plant as a whole. 



The book is sufficiently characterized by the table of contents above. Although there are no 

 separate chapters on regeneration and callus work, these aspects are discussed in several 

 chapters. In chapter 13 some more general aspects of development are discussed from the 

 standpoint of molecular genetics; in this chapter work on bacteria and Acetabularia is sum- 

 marized. 



There are no literature references in the text, but each chapter ends with a brief list of 

 general and more advanced reading. The book is illustrated with good line drawings and 

 photographs. It has a good index and the price is very reasonable. 



358 



